Three Minutes on the Quinsam River

Three hours of waiting came down to just three minutes.

I arrived at the Quinsam River early in the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the black bears that frequent the river during the salmon run. The morning was quiet, the sun was just beginning to rise, and for nearly three hours—not a bear in sight.

Then, finally, this beautiful black bear emerged from the forest.

He slowly made his way into the river and began searching for breakfast. I watched as he moved through the shallow water, carefully looking for pink salmon and occasionally making an attempt to catch one.

But the salmon run is only just beginning. The first pinks are starting to make their way into the Quinsam, and there still aren't many fish in the river, making them much harder for the bears to catch.

After about three incredible minutes, he gave up on fishing. Without catching a single salmon, he sauntered out of the river and disappeared back into the forest almost as quietly as he had arrived.

At this point in the season, that's not much of a problem for him. The bears still have plenty of other natural foods available to forage on while they wait for the river to fill with salmon.

I waited three hours for a moment that lasted only three minutes.

It was worth every second.